No Plans for Milestone, Contrary to DC’s Statement

Don’t believe everything you hear reported from Wizard World Chicago… here’s one example.

From Newsarama’s coverage of the DCU panel (link no longer available), during a section responding to audience questions:

[Any plans for] Static or other Milestone characters? [Paul] Levitz: “We keep talking about it. Nothing’s come together yet. Dwayne McDuffie has been talking to Dan about bringing him into the DCU. But Dwayne’s had some health issues.”

Dwayne McDuffie’s response (link no longer available), as posted on his forum:

…If Paul actually did imply that my illness interfered with ongoing negotiations, he has been misinformed.

It’s been over three years since anyone from from DC Comics has spoken to me about using Static in the DCU. Dan DiDio and I had a single, preliminary discussion. I heard nothing else from DC until I was called on the phone a few weeks later by someone introducing herself as “the editor of Static Shock.” I informed her that this seemed premature, as no agreement had been made between DC and Milestone. Since that call, I’ve heard nothing further on the matter from Dan or anyone else at DCU.

Despite what has been reported here and elsewhere, there are no current negotiations for the use of Static in the DCU, nor has DC made any serious attempt to reopen negotiations.

I suspect DC doesn’t want to disappoint fans, thus the equivocation, but doesn’t really want to deal with another company from a position of equals. Which is a shame, since the Milestone characters were fabulous, and I would love to see more done with them.

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2 comments

With the Milestone characters apparently being used in upcoming BET spots, I’m sure Milestone would love to get these out somewhere. Is Milestone contractually obligated to ONLY use DC as a publisher, or could the characters appear in an Image book or somewhere else?

I don’t know, Ray. In the past, there have been cases where the creator owned the copyright but DC retained the trademark, which complicated taking properties to other publishers. I don’t know if that applies to Milestone or not, and I don’t know if the Milestone owners have ever commented in detail on whether they could publish elsewhere.